...is witness to 2 historic moments (the WC & the united India)...could see the entire city en-route India Gate...dance, masti, music, booze, hunks, babes & the police: all under one hood n in sync with one feeling: Team India (it felt the cricketers built another Team India of Indians) n who saw their first WC victory: This one is one of them... what more can a citizen ever ask for!!! For the first time, it felt nice to be in Delhi as I'll cherish the proud moment till we all keep bleeding blue!!!
Thanks bhai, bhabhi (would-be), Mr Pathak and troupe for letting me part of this speactacular spectator's paradise!
...Another Saturday...Went to work, did this & that (many of the newly formed friends are under the impression that this one doesn't follow cricket much)...and this one smiles and says she is these days after Spanish Rafael (Nadal), Swiss Roger Federor, Cypriot Baghdatis and Russian Maria Sharapova and the likes...while she is trying to get a hang of the strokeplays of Golf these days too, as it's less amount of tension when you don't understand the game much :) :) :) and all your focus remains in following the game than panicking for a victory...This apart, espncricinfo.com was another window that was open with the rest of the pages throughout the matches as & when India played...and I kept quiet with just watching the scores, and keeping my faith as well as those cheering collegues at work who flocked near the TV next to the bureau...They would shout in a jiffy & I would refresh the cricinfo page to see the update and then get back to work again...
...same was the practice yesterday; left office with music plugged in as usual but this time it wasn't playing the everyday playlist but some or the other radio station to, of course, check the scores! It was one down n by the time I was home, Sachin was no longer on-field (could be for so much of pressure from the people...it must be so difficult for them on-field to cope with all this, I keep wondering as this is one more thing, which is our cricketers' forte when they know it's about living up to the expectations of that billion-plus)...anyhow, while I again open the scoreboard n count the runs quietly, couple of close buddies, whom I found had been shifted to the internet medium to check the updates and had left the TV room. Indeed, it comes easy as compared to the TV screen to check the score online...and I see a lot of people on FB kept giving their running commentaries (they watched the match or were focussed more on Facebooking remained a question for me to find an answer to), which seemed of a better version, for sure, of what the age-old Hindi commentators have been doing since we played cricket and they got a chance to do the commentary on DD!!!
...when it was 95 runs, Maa called and told me how none (her pure cricket-fanned sons) is answering her phone calls, and how she is enjoying the match with dad (he gave me an account of the '83 World Cup & a bit of news on how India was happy in 1947, 1971 and 1983 & NOW again how when Pakis packed their bags for the home country; and which could again happen if they do it this time...this one can be chased to win, and so on)...After a long time, I hear Maa and Papa are enjoying something without that never-ending cold war sort of opinions...
...I hung up, and I say I'm going downstairs to my landlord's place to watch TV then. I knock at their door now, first time since I'm staying here just to catch a glimpse of the match with a family (may be some superstition, as another Indian I'm, who is too somewhere sub-consiously like the mass)...and Aunty asks as usual, if I need anything; and my reply, "Open the door, first; I'm here to watch the match with you all." She gives me that wowed look, as I finally landed up there to spend some time with them :) And now Ishu, Saumya and Daadi and Aunty watch the match, and Uncle prefers to read the newspaper or something at the hall, while keeping his ears towards the commentary! I watch on, Saumya wants 4s and 6s to feel the WC fever, and Ishu is that quiet kid in his mid-teens, who has all the feelings subpressed inside, and Daadi's eyesight was superb, when I took a minute to check the scores on the scroll bar, she was quick in reading it...and we laugh together...
...I text Arunav (my elder bro), Siddhant (my kiddo cousin who played under-16 from Odisha: Oh, a proud sister I am, who will keep mentioning it) and another friend (who thought I could have checked it via live-streaming over the web, but I replied that the romance of TV-watching can't be beaten by the web to which he agreed immediately ...like you may read the e-paper as I do everyday, but when you touch the newspaper, the smell of the newsprint and the touch make all the difference)...
...Then came a moment, Saumya and I decided to cheer up for the Lankans though we wanted India to win (ahh....because none was cheering for them, and we din't want a victory where everyone shouted for India!!!)..I must say, a serene thought it was for we wanted to feel that game spirit before we really won! And, I pause and think about Ansu (he's family, a crazy Indian), Abhishek, Su (Suanshu,from the land of Punjab, who just understands it these days when they bleed blue), Tom (Reetesh, oh!!! we believe in giving everthing a pass), Anshita (who said she was going to watch the match that afternoon when we chatted) Tuk Tuk (that's what we call her, who wanted to watch the match n float in her 2011 version of the Cleopatra & Antony version!); dad, and the family and friends with whom I watched the 2003 WC. As Abhishek (my eldest bro, who remembers every event that happens in the course of life, as I do) told me after we played Pakis out that I must get back to myself if for nothing but for Sachin and for Team India again, and I must cheer them up and I must join the Indians, and openly this time...
...Gambir goes off the field, we see as the camera zooms on him, and as he shakes his head 180 degree towards left and right...and we felt if not the cup, if not the victory (but we wanted it for Sachin like all Indians and his fans the world over), but for those 3 more runs...Ifs, and buts ....and ifs and buts...The thought of Sachin, Dhoni, Yuvi, Pathan n all helped us concentrate again on the match.
...Now, we cheer for Yuvi...I try to place a colleague from the Bombay office, who was in the audience (just like we do!) I think of buzzing the poet and watch the victorious moments over the phone, but no!!! and Saumya n I come up with the expert comments when people burst those crackers that they are making use of the value-for-money...
...It's been long..but couldn't get on to it...and my gratitude to all the players, men in blue, and men behind the scenes too for letting the country come together, which nothing else could have done...as it's so much about differences, second opinions, and bla, bla and bla (I want to keep my journo side off for a while now to say anything but bleed India... India)...
...the next couple of moments followed: Crackers, flags, merry, one-country, Arunav was leaving but this time with the Cup-feeling...I felt equal with dad, the editors and the genertion that had cheered for the '83 WC, and I say: "We, this generation, are on par with u all, now!!!"
...To my surprise, I discovered myself in deep sleep till Arunav called to say goodbye for now, as he approached for security check-in, and I hesitantly said bye and slept again in glory that I would visit him soon, till then I can bleed blue and keep happy that we WON it... And Matru calls, and Amit asks me to get ready and they reach in no time; I find myself among Indians, who are basking in glory...as if baratis were coming from every house and they were reaching at the rest of the Indian homes that awaited them with utter happiness...
PS: While all the charaters are real so are the feelings, no offence at some of the descriptions...
Back to the act of following cricket (after eight yrs), and back to blogging (after half-a-year)...I LOVE YOU INDIA & "INDIANS", who have made the INDIA :)
